Friday 7 October 2011

Conference Presentation at AISHE In Dublin 25th and 26th August 2011

We presented a paper at the above conference titled Why does the value of interdisciplinarity that lecturers report not transfer to their programmes? Here is the presentation

This is linked to our MA programme and the fact that now our numbers have increased we have a range of disciplines represented on the programme learning together and what is it that works here but does not on all programmes

Guidance for writing student facing programme and modules specifications

We have produced two short booklets to help you write your module and programme specifications. These guide you through all the headings as provide some tips about what to include.

Here is the link for the guide for writing a programme specification

and

Here is the link for the guide for writing a module specification

Friday 5 August 2011

Writing your Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes can be difficult to get right in terms of ensuring you make them measurable and use language that is clear to everyone. Often you find you write the same verbs for what students should do because it is difficult to think of others terms. We have some guidance for you that you can use to think of other terms and ensure your learning outcomes are at the right level.

Other potential issues are making sure you have them under the right category and sometimes there might be more than one heading you could use. At City University London we have three categories now which are:
Knowledge and Understanding
Skills
Values and Attitudes

Think about what you really want the student to do. Is it purely a knowledge activity or is there a skill related to this. What values and attitudes will you teach the students that you want them to display when meeting others.

Lastly think about the number of outcomes you have. You cannot have an outcome for every aspect of your programme and module these often also have to be broad so think about what your student should be able to do at the end of the programme or module.

We have written some guidance for you which is attached here  and do contact the LDC if you need more help.

Writing student facing programme and modules specifications

All programme and modules specifications at City University London are now written as student facing documents. What does this mean for the staff writing them?

When you are developing your documents you should now write them as if you were talking to the student face to face. This provides an oppportunity to use language they will understand but also helps you make them more interesting and include the things you think are really good about your programme and module.

Tell the student what they will gain from the programme and module and how this will help them. Ensure your learning outcomes are measurable and they can understand them (see post on learning outcomes for further help with learning outcomes).

Tell them why you use the teaching  and assessment approaches you do and how this will help them on the programme but also in their future employment. Make the links to the self directed time they have so they see this as linked to the face to face time and still supported by you.

You should ensure the document reads as if it for them so say you it is more personal.

There is a tips sheet to help you here.

If you need more help in revising your documents so they are user friendly contact us at the LDC and we can help you.

Tuesday 2 August 2011

Conference Presentations to Date

The project to date has disseminated information at conferences both about this project and other institutional projects that compliment this and then also as part of the cluster group working together. Outlined here are the conferences to date that have been undertaken.


Quinsee S, Brown S, Parker P, Kander C, Truscott H, Bartholomew P & Lloyd A 9th September 2009 Symposium presented on Herding cats? Engaging stakeholders in complex institutional change projects for the ALT-C 2009 conference “In dreams begins responsibility” – Choice, evidence, and change 16th International Conference Manchester UK

This symposium was presented by the five institutional projects that are working together as a cluster. The focus was on how we had all worked differently with our stakeholders and tips to engaging them.
Here is the presentation and the tips sheet


Parker P, Quinsee S,  Phillips A, Truscott H,  Lloyd A, Eustance C, Slade G, Kandler C, Freeman R, Bartholomew P & Brown S – 7th May 2010 workshop presented on The CAMEL Trail which is about using an approach to work collaboratively across institutions at the Spring 2010 SEDA conference in Leeds

This presentation was about using the CAMEL methodology to work together as a Cluster group and support and develop each other projects. We used the poster as an aid to our discussions.
Here is the poster

Parker P & Quinsee S paper presented on Lessons in curriculum design and institutional change at the AISHE-C annual conference in Dublin in 25th – 26th August 2010

This presentation was focused on how through two institutional projects that of PREDICT and the Strategic Learning Environment project the two project leads had learnt lessons about the challenges and opportunities these projects provided.

Parker P & Wilkinson N invited speakers to present a paper on Curriculum Re-Design: Don’t Just Survive, Thrive! At the Associate Deans and Innovative Programs Conference 1st – 3rd November 2010 in St. Pete Beach, Florida USA

The project manager for PREDICT was invited to provide a joint paper with another speaker so there was a USA and European perspective on curriculum design. The session provided an overview of approaches used in two institutions and then enabled the participants to share their experiences and strategies that enabled curriculum design to take place.


Parker P & Quinsee S workshop run on Facilitating Institutional Change at the 18th International Conference on Learning in Mauritius in July 2011

This workshop provided an opportunity to explore issues related to curriculum design such as the language used, the barriers to design and the strategies we have found success with.
Here is the presentation part of the workshop

Friday 3 June 2011

Baseline Data Report and Project reports

Once the plan has been finalised some months were spent exploring the overview of curriculum design at the University at the start of this project as a baseline and a baseline report was produced.

During the project regular reports and updates have been provided to the project management board and to JISC. These outline what the project has been doing over six months in terms of activity and the outputs and dissemination as well as any lessons learnt and evaluation information. Here are the reports for October 2009, April 2010 and October 2010.

Further reports will added once discussed at project boards.

Thursday 2 June 2011

Project Plan and Revised Plan

The PREDICT project has been running for 3 years to date having started in September 2009. There is a link here to the original project plan and following some months of discussion and review there was a revision to the plan. Both these documents show where the project was heading and what is intended in terms of activities